Loose Ends
by BlinkAndYou'reDead
Summary: Loki has escaped from his imprisonment after his attempt to take over the world with the Chitauri. In revenge, he has set out to kill every member of the Avengers. So far, he has succeeded. There is only one member left. This one is personal. One-shot thing : I do not own the Avengers or Loki, though I wish I did :


In all the years of his life, Loki had never imagined it would come to this.

The ground was soft beneath his boots. Littered with bits of twigs and leaves mixed in with the mud from the last of many storms in this area of the world. He really did not know where he was at the moment, even what side of Midgard he was on. It was densely packed with trees, though, and normally squirming with many animals. At the moment the animals seemed to have all but vanished, as if they knew what was about to take place in their home.

His cape swished over the ground, stirring the dense undergrowth beneath him. It was as good a spot as any, he decided, for what was about to occur here.

It was easier than he thought it would be. In all truthfulness, he had thought he might of at least had to have put up a decent fight. Really, though, it was relatively easy to catch both Stark and Banner in their human forms. The woman and the archer did manage to both get in a few good hits before they, too, were killed. At least they died together.

The captain was easily the hardest to defeat. But in the end, he was vanquished like the rest of them. His final words really stuck with Loki, even now despite everything.

"_I feel sorry for you Loki. I truly pity you, and though I wish you might reconsider, I hope that my death might show you that even if you manage to kill all of us, it won't bring you the closure you desire."_

Without another thought, Loki had slaughtered him right there. The man was wrong. It would bring him closure. It had to.

Thunder started to spike overhead and Loki winced automatically. It was a habit he didn't think he would ever break, even if he succeeded today. Rain filtered through the leaves above him and poured down his face. The cuts over his skin stung as the rain touched them but he didn't care. The pain helped him focus.

A crack of lightning lit up the night and Loki spun as a loud thump echoed through the space behind him. On instinct, he ducked as Mjö lnir spun through the air above him. The hammer struck a tree behind him and then circled to fly into the hand of his brother.

_No._ He berated himself once again. _He was never my brother._

Thor strode through the woods and came to a halt in front of the mischievous god. "Loki," He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment. In the end, he could only manage one word. "Why?"

Greif played across Thor's face and Loki knew in that instant that Thor had heard the news. A sense of guilt panged inside Loki to see so much pain in Thor's face, no matter how much he claimed to hate the other god.

"Revenge. A sense of… dominance. They should have never beaten me in the first place." Loki said with a sneer.

"It does not give you any right to take out your anger on them. They only stopped you from hurting innocent people. Our personal quarrel does not involve them. You should have come to me first, brother."

Loki shook his head furiously. "I am _not_ your brother, Thor. I never have been. Just like I have never been your equal. Our past does not play well with those who choose to get in my way. Your _partners _were merely casualties of war."

"It does not change the fact that what you did was _wrong, _Loki. You are acting childish." Thor's jaw was clenched in anger and his fist tightened threateningly around his weapon.

Loki laughed, throwing his head back into the rain. "Me? Childish? I think you are forgetting the one who stormed off to slaughter an entire race on impulse."

"I seem to recall that you were going to do just the same at one point. Not to mention the fact that they were your own people." Thor countered.

Loki's face tightened in fury. He growled, "Your right, _brother_. Thank you once again for reminding me."

Pain flashed back onto Thor's face. "Loki, I do not wish to fight. I had hoped that you would realize that what you are does not matter. We grew up together and you are my family. Jö tunn or not."

"I could never be your family, Thor. I am not like you, nor will I ever be. Our past does not change the present."

Setting his jaw, Loki backed up a few feet and stood his ground in front of Thor.

"Loki-" Thor started weakly.

The other god shook his head. "No, Thor. I have come to finish what I have started. This small talk is over."

Immense sorrow etched itself into Thor's face. "If you will not listen to me, Loki, then I have no other choice."

With that he swung Mjölnir at Loki. The young god leaped back and drew his scepter, flashing it before him and disappearing. He reappeared to the left of Thor, only with numerous copies of himself and watched as Thor looked between the grouping, trying to pick out the actual Loki.

"Confused, _brother?" _One of them sneered.

Another laughed and spun his scepter in his hand. "You were never able to pick out the real me in a crowd."

The rest of them joined in his laughter as the real Loki stepped up from behind his brother and thrust his weapon at Thor's back. Thor turned and met the tip of the scepter with his hammer. The two clashed and threw the opponents backwards and off their feet.

They both struggled to their feet at the same time and ran forward again. Thor's hand shot into the air and a bolt of lightning arced between the sky and his hammer which he then pointed at Loki and released. The energy was deflected and partially absorbed by Loki's weapon. Loki matched Thor's attack with a bolt of his own. The blue light soared through the air and missed Thor's head by inches.

"Come now, Thor. This is child's play. Are you even trying?" Loki taunted, easily dodging another advance.

"I have told you before, brother, I do not wish to kill you. No matter how much you might wish to kill me."

"That is a weakness, Thor. You will never last if you harbor that against me." Loki circled Thor and watched the latter's eyes meet his own.

"It is not a weakness if you suffer from the same one, Loki. Tell me, could you actually kill me if given the chance?"

Loki snarled. "Are you calling me a coward? I am not weak."

"I am implying that you are damaged, Loki. You are hurt and no matter what you do you will never feel the same. You cannot kill everyone." Thor reasoned.

"I can and I will. I am the god of lies and yet my entire life I never once figured out that I was being lied to. I was betrayed, by the people I called my family. That is not something that I take lightly to. I will deal with it in whichever way I please."

"Loki, please. It is not the right way." Thor pleaded.

"I do not need to do things the right way, Thor. I will do whatever I please."

Loki lunged again, anger throwing more force into his attack. In his head he thought of all the times he had been put down, compared to Thor, called a liar, a trickster and a thief.

His yell echoed in his head as lightning lit up the scene. Both men's hair was plastered to their faces by the increasingly violent rain. Blood trickled from a cut on Thor's face and Loki feel his nose bleeding. Neither of them cared, though. Thor seemed to realized how much more forceful Loki was this time around and he wasn't about to let his guard down again. However, he was still fighting as if he were only in a sparring match with his brother. Loki noted this and relentlessly attacked Thor, barely letting him any time to gain any ground in their fight.

The fight wore on deep into the night. Thunder pounded above them as Loki finally whipped his scepter around and smacked Thor in the face. Thor staggered and Loki swung his weapon around again and hit it against Thor's wrist with enough force to crack the bone. Crying out, Thor dropped his hammer and Loki advanced, placing the tip of his scepter against Thor's chest, right over the heart.

Thor froze and watched Loki. The younger god seemed surprised to be in the position they were in, as if he weren't expecting this outcome no matter how much he boasted about it.

"Is this it then, brother?" Thor whispered.

Loki could hear him even over the sounds of the storm. He didn't know exactly how to respond to the question. For so long he wanted nothing more than to get revenge on his family for how he had been treated, but now presented with the situation, he was beginning to doubt himself.

Did he really want to kill Thor? Even though every part of him wanted to hate his brother, a smaller part knew that he never could. Thor had been there through every part of his childhood. They had played tricks together, learned and fought together. And now that Loki had the power to kill Thor, he wasn't sure if he could. Had the god of lies been lying to himself?

Loki looked up into Thor's eyes. The familiar eyes that he had known his whole life, and suddenly, he found he couldn't do it.

The scepter dropped from his hands and he fell to his knees in front of his brother.

"Forgive me, Thor." He whispered.

Thor kneeled down in front of the helpless Loki and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Always, brother."

here..


End file.
